A child reaches out to First Lady Michelle Obama prior to a Faith and Community Groups Leading the Way event at Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood, Fla., Feb. 11, 2012. The event was held in celebration of the second anniversary of the “Let’s Move!” initiative. (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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Presidential Daily Schedule (All times Eastern):

9:00 AM: Arrival ceremony at White House for State Visit of French President Francois Hollande

10:00AM: President Obama begins meetings with President Hollande

12:00PM: Joint press conference

1:15PM: Vice President Biden hosts a luncheon in honor of President Hollande

6:55PM: State Dinner in honor of President Hollande

8:40PM: President Obama gives a toast at the State Dinner honoring President Hollande

Get Covered Illinois, the state’s official Affordable Care Act outreach vehicle, has partnered with the satirical news source The Onion in a push to spur more young and healthy people to sign up for health insurance plans.

Under terms of the agreement, The Onion will run banner ads on its website featuring a man who is forced to sell his action figures to pay for his medical bills because he doesn’t have health insurance. The Onion also will create a video, an editorial and a custom news section about Get Covered Illinois that will be featured online through March 31, the enrollment deadline.

Washington Post: President Obama To Launch Major New Effort To Help Young Men Of Color

President Obama will launch a significant new effort this week to bolster the lives of young men of color, seeking to use the power of the presidency to help a group of Americans whose lives are disproportionately affected by poverty and prison. Obama on Thursday will announce a new White House initiative called “My Brother’s Keeper,” which will bring foundations and companies together to test a range of strategies across the country to support young male minorities, taking steps to keep them in school and out of the criminal justice system, a White House official said.

He will also announce that his administration will launch a more vigorous evaluation of what policies work best and publicize results to school systems and others across the country. But the announcement of the initiative is just the latest way that Obama, in his second term, has been addressing race and the fortunes of urban youth more directly. Last month, Obama and his wife, Michelle,hosted a forum at the White House to persuade colleges to recruit more low-income Americans. And last year, the Justice Department overhauled drug-sentencing guidelines so that low-level and nonviolent offenders do not face stiff minimum sentences.

Kerron Turner sat with more than a dozen other teenagers in a classroom at Hyde Park Academy High School on this city’s troubled South Side, nervously settling in for an unusual meeting with the president of the United States. They told their stories: Turner worried about the gangs he passes on his way home from school. Robert Scates had dropped out of high school and was working to catch up in time to graduate. Lazarus Daniels feared what would happen to his anger if he couldn’t play football anymore.

Eventually, it was President Obama’s turn to check in — to say how he was feeling emotionally, physically, intellectually and spiritually. Obama’s quiet visit a year ago to the “Becoming a Man” program for inner-city youth in Chicago, along with a follow-up meeting several months later, would test whether Obama could transform the symbolism of his presidency into something more personal, one young man at a time. The meetings left a mark on the president, who has used them as motivation for a forthcoming White House initiative on young men of color that he promised to launch in this year’s State of the Union address.

Back in Room 208 of Hyde Park Academy that winter afternoon, Obama told the group he tries to exercise every day but was feeling the aches of a 51-year-old. Emotionally, he was always thinking about his daughters, and he said he feels intellectually challenged all the time. Spiritually, he said, he prays every night. Then Obama was asked to tell his story: How did a black man become president? He talked about his anger as a young man growing up without a father in the picture. When he was a teen in high school, he partied too much, ignored school too much. He confided that he drank and smoked pot. Daniels struggled to grasp what the president was saying. That could not be the life of the man who became a president, Daniels thought. He half-raised his hand, and asked, “Are you talking about you?” It wasn’t a question the president was expecting. “Yeah, I’m talking about me,” Obama said. “None of this is a secret. I wrote about all of this in my book.” Obama has recounted his meetings with the young men as among the most raw encounters of his tenure.

The closest Crist gets to controversy, something I left out of the review, comes in a collection of musings about the rise of the Tea Party. Crist has trouble understanding the alacrity with which anti-Obama anger became so mainstream.

“Sometimes,” he says, “the public’s feelings seemed partly racial. Sometimes, I’m sure they were not. But Barack Obama was the first African American in the White House. Florida had helped to put him there. And it was impossible to imagine an equal measure of virulence for any politician whose skin was white.”

The NAACP estimates that 80,000 to 100,000 people gathered outside the North Carolina State Capitol Saturday morning for the Moral March in Raleigh (official attendance numbers have not been released yet). The march was the culmination of a year of Moral Monday protests at the State Capitol organized by The Forward Together Movement, a “fusion movement” of over 150 groups fighting for mostly progressive causes in North Carolina.

A year ago, only 15,000 turned out for the same march in Raleigh. The leap in turnout is a good indicator of the growing support for the movement’s agenda in the months before the 2014 midterms, and a show of how much more popular the movement has become since last February.

So why were nearly 100,000 people in the streets of Raleigh on Saturday? Mostly dissatisfaction with the current state government, which has left North Carolina — once a bastion of progressive policy-making from both parties — a petri dish for Tea Party political experimentation in the eyes of Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of NAACP and leader of the Forward Together Movement.

Reuters: White House ‘Disappointed’ Invitation Withdrawn For North Korea Visit

The White House said on Monday it was “deeply disappointed” by North Korea’s decision to rescind an invitation to U.S. envoy Robert King to visit Pyongyang to discuss the release of imprisoned U.S. missionary Kenneth Bae. The White House remains prepared to send King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, to North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

“We are deeply disappointed by the DPRK decision for a second time to rescind its invitation for Ambassador King to travel to Pyongyang to discuss Kenneth Bae’s release,” Carney told reporters at a briefing. Bae, a 45-year-old Korean-American, has been held for more than a year in North Korea after being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of trying to overthrow the state.

The Congressional Budget Office issued its official rebuttal Monday to the Republican talking point that Obamacare would cost 2.5 million American jobs. In a new FAQ explainer of last week’s budget report, CBO director Doug Elmendorf, answering if 2.5 million people will lose their jobs by 2024 because of the health care reform law, said: “No, we would not describe our estimates in that way.”

In the immediate aftermath of the CBO report, some Republicans characterized the report’s findings as: The law would “cost” the U.S. economy up to 2.5 million jobs. The phrase quickly found its way into a Senate GOP web advertisement. But what the CBO actually said was much different, as TPM reported. The agency said that some Americans would choose to stop working or work less because of the law. They could change their work habits for various reasons, such as starting a new business or choosing to spend time at home. The voluntary cutback in hours would be equal to 2.5 million full-time jobs.

President Obama leans backward as Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel speaks during a National Economic Council and Domestic Policy Council planning meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Feb. 11, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)

Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer and Cecilia Rouse, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, watch as President Obama signs the Economic Report of the President in the Oval Office, Feb. 11, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama reviews his prepared remarks on Egypt at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Feb. 11, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

Vice President Biden welcomes home members of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division who returned from Afghanistan, at Fort Campbell, Ky., Feb. 11, 2011 (Photo by David Lienemann)

First lady Michelle Obama reaches for a hand as she arrives for physical activity with kids at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida, Feb. 11, 2012

…. with Perry the Platypus from the children’s TV show “Phineas and Ferb”

…. with tennis player James Blake

Standing behind is Paralympian April Holmes

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visit with former Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and his family in the Oval Office prior to a ceremony to award Romesha the Medal of Honor, Feb. 11, 2013. Remesha’s family members, from left, are: son Colin Romesha, 2; daughter Gwen Romesha, 4; wife Tammy Romesha, daughter Dessi Romesha, 11; and mother Tish Rogers (Photo by Pete Souza)

White House military aides corral Colin Romesha, the son of Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, after he took the stage behind President Barack Obama’s lectern before a presentation ceremony at the White House

HF, I loved Shirley Temple and have a complete set of all of her old movies. Even though she served several Republican presidents, she was a decent person and didn’t let her early fame go to her head. Bill (Bojangles) Robinson said that she was a consummate professional who picked up the dancing steps immediately and was a good friend. She made people feel cheerful in a sad time. Who couldn’t help smiling at her dimply face and what mother didn’t want her little girl to have that head full of curls, which were, of course, not natural, but the result of great effort on her mother’s part.

Good Morning and ‘thank you’ Ms Nerdy, there’s a lot here to keep me occupied and out of trouble!

Good Morning TODobots and friends! ‘Tis Tuesday, and I’m actually planning to do some much needed ‘personal accounting’ today…..well, sometime today. 😉 [The deal with myself was if I didn’t get called to work I’d complete the expense sheet for January. At first I mentally decided to add things up BEFORE signing on, but I couldn’t resist a peAk into the village, so that’s now been pushed back to lunchtime.😉 ]

grrrrrrrr………Chuck the Toad is asking Christian Malard (French Analyst) how much has the President been hurt in France because of the NSA? Chuckie tried to make a BIG DEAL of it.

Malard chuckled and said; really it’s not a problem here, it’s like a joke, Obama hasn’t been hurt here. We don’t care much about this as you do. The chuckie toad tried to push and was not happy and tried to push how bad it is for the President in the United States and how mad Germany is with him because of spying. Malard, everyone spies and every country knows it.

Chuckie Toad, drink your own Kool Aid because the French isn’t drinking with you. Thank you Mr. Malard for not buying the BS!

Chuck Todd wouldn’t last two minutes in France, even if he spoke fluent French. His blatant bias and stupidity would make him a laughing stock. The French are too sophisticated to tolerate fools like him.

Oh my cookemom – I hope you are INDOORS and WARM. PBO is from your neck of the woods, so he has probably filled Hollande in with the lovely tales of minus degree temps. LOL! But for DC, 26 deg in Feb is COLD! Normal is about 45-50 for this time of year….

PBO came prepared with his gloves, but Hollande opted not to wear gloves. No wonder he noticed the cold!

We’re at the breaking point, aren’t we? And now more snow in the forecast? I literally don’t know where I’m going to put it. My shoulders still hurt from hoisting it shoulder-level in the last snow blast. God.

J’aime tout ce quis est francais.
And I have always especially loved the sound of the French language—-flows so beautifully, sounds so “sexy”, romantic and elegant.
Reminded that I spent many an afternoon during college years in Iowa City at the theatre watching moody, intimate, lovely sub titled French films.

GM all TODvillians, people who believe in telling the truth and combating the GOP lies. Cold in Chitown again (what else is new/), but the forecast actually calls for the 30’s on Thursday (well 32, so not above freezing, but we’ll take it). Next week we may actually see rain, which will then freeze and make a mess of things. The one thing we don’t want to see is a rapid rise in temps and a quick melting of all our snows.

Could be major flooding in the area when that does happen.

See the Toadster is making a fool of himself again. Although the following could be true for the entire WHPC, I though I would make it special for the Toadster today.

I really want to give @chucktodd all the respect he deserves. I really do, and I would, if he deserved any. He keeps proving he doesn't.

Hey Japa, looking forward to the warmer temps, but it’s going to snow as well. That’s been the pattern, snow, then frigid temps for 2 days, then snow, then the frigid temps. Snow is expected to start tomorrow night and on thru Thursday, and possibly through the week-end.

You’re right about the melting. I’m thinking I should not only shovel my walks and driveway, but I should probably remove some of the snow that’s piled up against the house. A quick thaw will surely flood my basement.

Loved President Hollande’s speech… lovely statements to our amazing President🙂 Looking forward to the dinner tonight.. I NEVER watched State dinners/welcomes until President Barack Obama🙂 and hey looks like we’re all going to France in June ~ start packing TOD !

I had the honor a couple of years ago when Merkle came for the State Dinner. The TV or video feed does not do these events justice. The pageantry and pomp and circumstance of this event is unbelievably beautiful. I could do no more than just stand there and watch in awe of the moment.

Didn’t Dana Bash work for GW Bush before joining CNN? She is the daughter of a Conservative….Or…Orthodox Rabbi and had John King Covert to Judaism from Catholicism, had his son and divorced him in 3-4 yrs? Dana Bash has such glee reporting and twisting stories falsely about Dems. Yes, I share your sentiments when Dana Bash has to tweet Facts about TBGOPers.

I do think of you guys this winter. We have had our cold snap of -16 for afew days, but this week it is to be in the 30’s. I hate having the snow get all heavy and wet makes getting around worse but at least we aren’t freezing. Good luck with your winter, I hope it breaks for you soon.

Chicago, too. I’ve lived through worse single events, but never this constant for this long. It started for us the beginning of December and other than one melt, it’s been relentless. That’s what’s driving us all mad.

Earlier this winter I was complaining about no snow, well we had a record amount on Sunday. Now it is warming up to above freezing and all that snow is heavy wet and sloppy. Makes getting around really hard. It’s hard complaining about the weather because it is constantly changing here.

Can’t wait to watch the arrivals at the State Dinner. Hope we will be able to see what FLOTUS is wearing. Off to do some more shoveling outside. See you later.

House Republican leaders told members this morning that it is clear the effort to link an increase in the debt ceiling to restoration of military pension benefits will not attract enough support, so they will be bringing up a ‘clean’ debt limit bill for a vote Wednesday, according to several people who were inside their Tuesday morning huddle.

Boehner made clear the GOP would provide the requisite number of Republican votes for the measure but that Democrats will be expected to carry the vote.

The GOP cannot shut down govt while trying to win the senate – Boehner probably knows this – but the base will hate him anyway. The media will hate him more for taking away their latest talking point. The media adore the thought of the GOP shutting down the government. Gives them that thrill.

For Black History Month I have been watching the PBS six-part series “Eyes on the Prize.” I highly recommend it. Each night I experience a range of emotions from anger to sadness from trepidation to inspiration but I always end each night’s series felling hopeful because after all that blood and suffering I lived to see Barack Obama President of the United States.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Did You Know?
That probably the most impactful person in the Civil Rights Movement is a woman who is rarely mentioned in the history books. Her name is Diane Nash. She was the amazingly brave activist, leader and strategist of the student wing of the 1960s Movement. Her efforts included the first successful civil rights campaign to integrate lunch counters (Nashville); the Freedom riders, who de-segregated interstate travel; founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); and the Selma Voting Rights Movement campaign, which resulted in African Americans getting the vote and political power throughout the South.

Many of the more well-known civil right leaders of those times followed her and these students lead and were there for support but the organizing and strategizing was being done on the ground by young students such as Nash, John Lewis, James Bevel and others. It truly is a fascinating story of courage and leadership.

A historian once described her as “bright, focused, utterly fearless, with an unerring instinct for the correct tactical move at each increment of the crisis; as a leader, her instincts had been flawless, and she was the kind of person who pushed those around her to be at their best, or be gone from the movement.”

An extremely successful activist in many aspects of the Civil Rights Movement, Diane Nash is an extraordinary woman and I salute her courage and determination to make sure that everyone in this country has equal rights under the law.

Coincidentally, I just finished watching a segment on Diane Judith Nash and came back into the village to see what’s up. I watched it at the 3-Chics Politico link provided here earlier – http://3chicspolitico.com/2014/02/10/black-history-the-freedom-riders/ . What I like about this particular link is that the series of videos shared are divided into 4/5 minute segments – just the right length for my attention span and to allow me to take a break if I need to after a segment.

I’ve been watching the Eyes on the Prize series on youtube each night. They are about an hour long. I generally like shorter videos as well but I committed to do this for Black History Month. It is so engaging that I don’t have any problem actually staying awake for this.

VC, If you can, try to watch each one-hour episode of the “EYES ON THE PRIZE” series. There are 14 episodes of about 60 minutes each. I guarantee you won’t be bored. Thankfully, there are all available on YouTube. I bought all 14 of them in VHS format.

Donna, if you ever have a chance, please seek out the documentary, “Scarred Justice” about he Orangeburg, SC massacre. Also there’s a book you would love, “Hands on the Freedom Plow” about the women of SNCC. One of my favorite people wrote one of the accounts.

Thank you Donna for highlighting the important role played by the young courageous college student, Diane Nash, in the “Sit-in” and “Freedom-ride” and voter registration movements. There are so many women leaders during the Civil Rights movement whose contributions are not well known. I think another unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement is Ella Baker. She was really the one who advised the students to form their own organization rather than becoming either a youth wing of the NAACP or the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC). She feared that old leaders may try to damp down the young student’s passion and militancy. By the way, Ella Baker, in the 1940s and 1950s, had been instrumental in building the NAACP on the grassroots level, especially in the South. When Dr. King and other Southern Ministers formed the SCLC, King picked Ella Baker as the first Executive Secretary to run the organization. Ella Baker also played a key leadership role in helping SNCC organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) which mounted a spirited challenge to the Dixiecrats at 1964 Democratic convention. That challenge, in my opinion, helped transform the Democratic party. I believe a film, titled FUNDI, made in early 1980’s, on the life of Ella Baker, may still be available on YouTube. I highly recommend it. Ella Baker was an amazing person and one of the giant leaders of the Civil Rights movement.

“The House has come to the realization that following the hard right on the debt ceiling made no sense, which is good for the House, good for the Republican Party and good for America,” the senator said in a statement. “We hope soon enough they’ll come to the same realization on immigration.”

Good Morning Everyone! Hope you are all well. I’m in hospital this morning with my brother. He’s having major surgery on his back. Gotta get a bad disk removed, and two others fused together with pins. Poor thing has been in immense pain for a while. They just wheeled him down the hall.

Thanks pf58. You know what, we spent so much effort keeping him laughing and smiling, I didn’t get nervous until they came to get him. Staff here is great though. Surgeon is top-notch. They’ll take good care of him.

Yep hospital again. Not exactly my favorite place to be.
He’s in a different one though. Has needed to do this for years, but put it off until he just couldn’t anymore. I’m glad he’s gonna get fixed up so he can stop hurting the way he has been. The man works like a maniac (more than even me) — of course you kinda have to when you’re trying to work a full-time job and build your own business on the side.

We hardly see each other much. He’s always working and his family live quite a hump out in the exburbs (is that a word?), whereas sis is retired and lives 5 mins away.

Dudette, I am just entering, but I want to jump in and express my sincere loving care to join in and give you my word that I will be lifting up in prayers you, your brother and your family during this time of his surgery.
Lots of loving hugs for strength, peacefulness, loving comforting doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and all who will be caring for your brother during this tedious surgery. ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Loving faithful prayers, my beautiful Dudette)))))))))))))))))))))))))))). HZ

The Wisconsin Club for Growth is suing to stop a state investigation of the 2011 and 2012 recall elections, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The conservative group and its treasurer, Eric O’Keefe, filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court against the state judge and several prosecutors involved in the secret probe, known as a “John Doe” investigation. According to the Journal Sentinel, the lawsuit claims the investigation violates the Wisconsin Club for Growth’s rights to free speech, free assembly, and equal protection under the law. It asks the court to block prosecutors from continuing with the probe, and free the Wisconsin Club for Growth from having to cooperate.

The John Doe investigation currently underway grew out of an earlier John Doe that snared six former aides and associates of Gov. Scott Walker (R). According to the Journal Sentinel, the latest John Doe is looking at whether groups like Wisconsin Club for Growth coordinated illegally with Republican candidates during the recent recall elections in the state.

The newly filed lawsuit comes a few weeks after the current John Doe investigation hit roadblock. Reserve Judge Gregory Peterson, who is overseeing the probe, issued a secret order quashing subpoenas against conservative groups that supported Walker, according to the Journal Sentinel.

The powerful outside group’s call came in an email to supporters on Tuesday, shortly after House Republicans announced that they would give up on previous demands for a debt ceiling extension and instead support a clean hike. In the email Senate Conservatives Fund Executive Director Matt Hoskins wrote:

Republicans are giving up because they know that winning is impossible when their leaders are determined to lose. These leaders have telegraphed weakness to the Democrats and sabotaged conservative efforts so many times that Republicans now have no leverage. There’s only one solution.
John Boehner must be replaced as Speaker of the House.
Hoskins goes on to warn that Republicans will never have any leverage if Boehner stays as Speaker.